Happy Birthday, Mary Anne!
by xxxDegrassigirl101xxx
Summary: It's Mary Anne's birthday! Will she have the wonderful sixteenth birthday she's always dreamed of?
1. Mary Anne

**Hi everybody! This is my very first fanfic! Tell me what you think! Please rate and comment! Please also give me ideas as of what could happen next! Disclaimer: I do not own _The Baby Sitters Club_. I am merely using it in my story. All the credit goes to Ann M. Martin, one of THE BEST (and one of my most favorite) authors in the world!**

**Happy Birthday, Mary Anne!**

I woke up this morning feeling very excited. I didn't know why at first, it seemed like an ordinary Friday near the beginning of my sophomore year. I was getting dressed when it hit me(other than it being Friday, and that we had a BSC (more about that later) meeting at 5:30 this afternoon.) Of course! It was my birthday today! How could I forget? Today I finally turn sixteen! I would finally be able to get my license and be able to drive to school instead of walking everyday, buy my own car (I'd have to get a job first, though). If my father would let me, that is (but he _did_ let me get my permit).

You see, my mom died soon after I was born, because she had cancer. After that, my father had felt as though he wouldn't be able to take care of me, so he sent me to live with my grandparents in Iowa. Later on he wanted me back, but my grandparents had grown to doubt his parenting skills and didn't want to give me back. He did get me back, but it took a long time. So as if to prove himself, he became super duper strict. I still wore little girls' clothes (he even made me wear my hair in braids) and I had an extremely early curfew. My bedroom looked like a baby's nursery. That tells a lot. But in seventh grade, (The summer after sixth grade) I had convinced him that I was old enough to baby-sit, but he still put his two cents' worth in: I had to be home by nine, I check in with him every half hour…. etc, etc. So I could be the baby-sitter, but I still dressed like the sittee!

*****Flashback*** **

Back then in seventh grade, I was once in a fight with my best friends: Kristy Thomas, Claudia Kishi, and Stacey McGill. We were so angry at each other that we all started sitting at different lunch tables. I would sit there, day after day eating lunch by myself glancing around the cafeteria. I could see Kristy talking to the Shillaber twins at our usual lunch table. She must have said something really hilarious, because milk shot out of Mariah's (or was it Miranda's?) nose, which only made them laugh even harder than before. They looked like they were having the time of their lives. I saw Stacey at the table that Claudia and her sat at along with Pete, Howie, Rick, Dori, and Emily. But no Claudia. I looked aroundthe lunchroom. I found Claudia sitting with Trevor Sandbourne, just the two of them. Claudia had been leaning on her elbows, her hair falling over her shoulders, whispering to Trevor. He was listening with a smile on his face.

And then there was me, of course. But in that moment, I had wished I could have taken back what I said when we all had that big, stupid fight. I would have never told Kristy and Stacey to shut up, or called Stacey's diabetes dumb, and then call Stacey a conceited snob. Or have called Claudia a stuck-up job-hog, or have called Kristy (who was, in fact, my best friend at the time) the "biggest, bossiest know-it-all in the world". But I wouldn't care if I didn't even think about them again.

I had become used to sitting alone when one day something happened, that would be the start of the rest of my life. I met the new girl Dawn Schafer. She was tan, tall, thin, with blue eyes, and _long _( I mean, she could almost sit on it) straight, silky, pale blond hair that was almost white. She asked me if I was new there, too. I told her my friends were absent. (Dumb move, I know). Little did I know meeting her would be the start of the rest of my life.

The next day at lunch was pretty much the same. Kristy and the Shillabershad been joined by another friend of theirs', Jo Deford. Claudia and Trevor were sitting with Rick and Emily. At the opposite end of the long table wasDori, Howie, Pete and Stacey. Every so often, Stacey would look up and give Claudia the evil eye, or Claudia would whisper something to Trevor and then look in Stacey's direction and laugh. Once, she even stuck out her tongue at Stacey (when Trevor wasn't looking, of course. She would never have done that when he was looking at her.) I hadn't been surprised that Kristy was holding a grudge, but I had sort of expected Stacey andClaudia to make up or at least pretend to have made up. I never thought I'd see the day when cool Claudia would stick her tongue at somebody in front of Trevor Sandbourne.

At the end of the day, when I was supposed to go to Dawn's house, (after calling my dad and getting permission first, of course) I saw Kristy staring at me with her mouth hung open. (I should have taken a picture of her with that facial expression). We also passed Claudia and Trevor on the way which only made the afternoon more worthwhile. Once we got to her house we watched _The Parent Trap_. Then I had to leave for a BSC meeting.(BSC stands for The Baby-Sitters Club, but more about that later. The next Saturday, we had decided to look in our parents' old yearbooks and found out that Dawn's mom and my dad used to date each other in high school (!), but had been separated by Sharon's (Dawn's mom) parents who had thought Richard (my dad) "hadn't been good enough for their only daughter". And so she went away to college in California, and ended up meeting Dawn's dad, while my dad ended up meeting my mom and as they say, _the rest is history._

*****End of flashback*****

I got dressed in a yellow sleeveless shirt and a navy blue skirt with white polka-dots. I slipped on a pair of white socks and my white Vans with navy blue and yellow polka-dots. Then I put on my navy blue headband, a white pearl necklace, three bracelets (yellow, white and navy and blue of course) and a chunky navy blue ring with little yellow and white gems on it. I also put on a pair of plastic navy blue hoop earrings (yes, I _finally _got my ears pierced!) with white and yellow polka dots on them. After checking myself in the mirror, I walked out of my room and down the stairs to the kitchen. As soon as I walked into the kitchen, I saw my dad, Sharon, and Dawn smiling at me. Then, they all exclaimed, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARY ANNE!" "Thank you Sharon, dad, and Dawn," I said. I looked at the kitchen table, which was had tons of pancakes, French toast, regular toast, eggs, fruit, orange juice and milk, hot tea, coffee, water, butter, jelly, and syrup. After we had eaten a huge breakfast, Dawn and I grabbed our school stuff and started walking to school. When we got to the crosswalk, we waited for the light to change.

"Well how do I look?" I asked.

"Perfect," she said. "now, how do _I_look?"She was wearing a yellow top with horizontal electric blue stripes, a yellow skirt with electric blue polka dots anda wide electric blue belt around her hips. She had a pair of yellow knee socks and electric blue Mary Janes with a yellow snap. She also had on huge electric blue and yellow earrings, a chunky electric blue and yellow necklace, two wide plastic bracelets in electric blue and yellow and two chunky rings, one on each hand. One was yellow with little electric blue polka dots painted on it, and the other was electric blue with little yellow polka dots painted on it.

"Three words: A-MA-ZING!" Then Dawn looked me in the eye and smiled.

"I have something for you," she said. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out a small box covered in green wrapping paper and tied with a white ribbon, which she then handed to me. I looked at her, confused. "Well... open it!" she exclaimed. "Right now?" I asked her. "Ye-ah!" she answered. I untied the ribbon and carefully tore off the wrapping paper. It was one of those velvet boxes that they put jewelry in at malls and department stores. I opened the lid and gasped. Inside was the most beautiful jewelry set (ring, necklace, bracelet, earrings) I'd ever seen. I looked at my sister and gave her a huge smile. "Thanks, Dawn! This is the prettiest jewelry I've ever seen!" "Your welcome, sis," she told me.

"Then she looked over my shoulder. "Hey, look- Stacey's here!" I turned around also and we waved to her. She waved back and began to walk faster. (She couldn't run because she was wearing her glittery silver ballet flats.) She finally got over to us and smiled at us. "Happy sweet sixteen, Mary Anne!" she said, "You look very nice today, Mary Anne! You too, Dawn!" We thanked her and then I told her she looked great too. And it was true. She had on a dark blue top with two stars in silver sparkles and two silver and black swirls coming from each star (one on top coming from her left shoulder, and the other diagonally across from it in the bottom right corner. She was also wearing long dangly earrings, two silver necklaces (one short, one long), silver bangle bracelets, a chunky blue ring with a sparkly black andsilver swirl, a wide headband that matched her shirt, and sparkly black leggings with lace at the ends. After exchanging compliments, all three of us walked to school together. (Kristy rides the bus to school, because it is too far away to walk with us)

After a while Claudia joined us along the way. We all stopped to chat a minute, Claudia told me "Happy birthday!" and that I looked great. I told her thank-you and that she looked awesome (as usual). And she had really outdone herself today. She was wearing a green-and-white-striped long-sleeved shirt with a green star on it, a short, black, ruffled skirt with a black belt with tiny (_fake_) studded diamonds, a black-white-and-green striped scarf, _tall _black-and-white socks with a black stocking sticking out one sock, and a pair of white Converse with a black-and-green paint splatter design. Her shoes also had black, white, and green laces (she had decorated the pair of shoes _and _had made the shoelaces herself in art class.) Then we continued on to school. Dawn and Stacey were deep in conversation about something (I think it was a debate about the proper flavoring of tofu or something like that), but their words seemed to be a blur. I started to daydream and then my thoughts wondered off to _my_ mother. _If only she could be with me now. I'm turning sixteen! I knew I would need a mother now (even more then I did last year). I'm so glad I have Sharon. Dawn too..._ my thoughts trailed off. I came back to reality. Claudia, Dawn, and Stacey had stopped walking and were looking at me. "Hello... Earth to Mary Anne... do you read?" Stacey asked me, waving her hand in front of my face. "Oh- sorry. I was just thinking about my mom," I said, looking down at the sidewalk. (Disgusting. I had almost stepped in some _nasty _chewing gum.) There was silence. "I'm sorry, Mary Anne," Claudia, Stacey, and Dawn said in unison. "No- it's fine," I assured them. They nodded in silence. Then we continued walking to school.

******Okay, so I had first planned to make Mary Anne turn fifteen, but my best friend had her sweet sixteen yesterday and it was AMAZING! So I changed her from turning fifteen to turning sixteen instead. ****So what do you think of my first chapter? Please comment, rate, and review! Any ideas are welcome! What should her friends do for her birthday? What should she get? ****(Tell me if I forgot to switch the word fifteen too sixteen anywhere else in this chapter!) P.S. Sorry it has lots of words! Once I started writing I couldn't stop! **


	2. The BSC and Other Things

**Hey everybody! Here it is! The awaited, anticipated Chapter 2! I hope you like it!**

My friends and I walked into school and split up to go to our lockers. _Everybody _wished me happy birthday- students, teachers, the principal and vice principal (I help out in the main office during third period). The first few periods passed by quickly and before I knew it, it was time for last period. My last class was math (which I had with Kristy), so I grabbed my math stuff out of my locker and looked for Kristy so we could walk to class together like always. I found her talking to our other friend Abby, who was also in our math class and in my Honors French class. They were having a discussion on their softball team, Kristy's Krushers, until I interrupted their conversation by saying hello.

"Hi Mary Anne! Happy Birthday!" they both exclaimed in unison.

"Thanks," I said, "so, you guys want to walk to math class with me?" I asked them.

"Sure," they said in unison.

We were walking along to class when I gasped and froze.

"Hey, what's up?" Kristy asked me, "Why'd you stop walking?"

But I didn't have to explain, because just then she gasped and froze too.

"Hey guys what's the ma-?" Abby started to say when all of a sudden- WHAM! She dropped her books on the floor really hard. But she didn't pick them up. She just stood there, still and silent.

Then the weirdest thing happened: Cokie Mason and Alan Gray were _holding hands_! _And smiling! Like a couple! Cokie didn't even look disgusted!_

Then they vanished around the corner. Kristy, Abby and I were shocked. We didn't talk; we just looked at each other. Then all of a sudden-

"Awkward silence- another gay baby born," a voice behind me said.

Then I felt two arms wrap around my waist and felt someone kiss my cheek. I smiled; I didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

"Hi Logan," I said, turning around so I could give him a kiss back. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him passionately on the lips.

"How's my favorite birthday girl?" he asked me, giving me one of his charming smiles. (What am I saying? Everything he _does _is charming. Everything _about _Loganis charming.)

"She's doing great, thank you very much," I said, a bright red blush spreading in my cheeks.

"Did you guys hear about Cokie and Alan?" he asked us.

"Yes, we _had the misfortune of seeing it for ourselves_, "Kristy said, causing Abby, Logan, me, and Claudia, who had just joined us, to crack up. She sounded just like our English teacher who had lectured Claudia about the proper use of grammar for "a whole long endless _hour_" as Claudia put it, even though it had only been ten minutes earlier that day. (If only she had known then that she would also had to endure the same lecture later that day from her older sister Janine; whose IQ number is 196!) .

The day had seemed to pass quickly passed by. At lunch, though, something peculiar had happened. ***** Flashback***** _I found Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, Dawn, Logan, Emily, Rick, Howie, Pete, Abby, Mariah and Miranda Shillaber , Trevor, and Dori all sitting together at our lunch table talking. Stacey was writing things down in a pink, black, white and silver sparkly notebook with a gel ink pen that matched the notebook. As soon as I walked up to the table, everybody went silent. Stacey put her notebook and her pen back into her shoulder bag. I awkwardly sat in the chair between Dawn and Logan._

_"Hi, guys," I said._

_ "Hello, Mary Anne," everybody said._

_ "What's going on?" I asked everybody._

"_Nothing much," they replied._

_ Kristy piped up, "So, Mary Anne, do you have any birthday plans?"._

_ "Um, no, actually," I said, suspiciously, "Why?"_

_ "Well I was wondering because-OW!" Kristy yelped._

_ (Stacey kicked Kristy in the leg with her foot underneath the table.)_

_Kristy bent down to rub her leg. Then everyone except Kristy, Logan, Dawn and me finished eating and got up to go throw their trash away. _(In Stoneybrook High School, if you finish your lunch early you can go to the library or outside until lunch is over.) _We soon finished lunch and joined the others outside until the bell rang. _

** *** End of flashback*****

The rest of the day passed by quickly. It had been a good day- the teachers had given us ABSOULUTELY NO HOMEWORK! We didn't even have any tests coming up, and we got let out early because all of the teachers had to go to this teacher's convention over the weekend. (Next week was fall break, too.) After school I went home to change because Logan was taking me out for a birthday surprise- tickets to a poetry reading from one of my favorite authors and a movie, plus a special surprise- but he had told Kristy not to worry- it wouldn't interfere with the BSC meeting that afternoon; it was after the meeting (and it wouldn't interfere with my surprise party which was later that night, but I didn't know that at the time, of course!) Oops, I had promised to tell you about the BSC, hadn't I? Well, here it goes:

The BSC meets three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons from five- thirty to six. We've always met at the same time, same place- Claudia's room. We've been together for three years now, since the beginning of seventh grade. The only times we've ever been apart were: the fight when I met Dawn, and the time Kristy disbanded the club for awhile. We've grown and changed over time, but the idea of the club has remained the same. We provide responsible, excellent baby-sitting services to our clients.

How does it work? Well, our clients call us during meeting times to set up jobs. (That's the genius part; the parents only have to call one number to reach a whole group of sitters.) In the beginning we had to advertise, but now we have plenty of regular clients. We schedule jobs according to which sitters are free at which times (we even have two associate members- Logan and a girl named Shannon Kilbourne- to lend a hand when the regular members are booked solid).

We make sure to arrive on time to our jobs and to come prepared, which may mean bringing our Kid-Kits (special boxes we've decorated and filled with toys, games markers, and stickers) on a rainy day. We keep track of what's going on with our clients by writing up every job in our club notebook.

Who came up with all of these brilliant ideas for making the BSC work so well? My best friend Kristy, that's who. Which is why she's president. Still, the club is a success because of _all_ the members. Each of us contributes something different and special.

Kristy is a whirlwind. Her life is busy and chaotic, but she flies through it with ease. She seems to thrive on having too much to do. She's part of a huge family, she runs the BSC, and she also manages a softball team for little kids.

Meeting Kristy's family for the first time would be overwhelming for anyone. (_Living _in it would be overwhelming for me!) She has two older brothers, Charlie and Sam, plus one younger named David Michael. Kristy's dad walked out on the family when David Michael was a baby, leaving Kristy's mom to cope with raising four kids on her own. But surprise! Kristy's mom is one tough cookie. She not only managed, she did a great job. And then she won the Excellent Husband sweepstakes when she met and married Watson Brewer, one of the nicest grown-ups I know. He came complete with two kids of his own from his first marriage, Karen and Andrew. Karen is eight and Andrew is five). They live with Kristy's family part-time, in Watson's ultragigantic mansion. (Oh, did I forget to mention that Watson's a millionaire?) Kristy also has a new younger sister, Emily Michelle.

She was a Vietnamese orphan whom Kristy's mom and Watson adopted soon after they married. And then there's Nannie, Kristy's extremely cool grandmother, who came to live with them as well.

Could the house be any more packed?

Well, yes, as a matter of fact. I hadn't even begun to list the pets, which include one huge puppy, one feisty kitten, some goldfish, and an ever-changing cast of smaller pets that travel back and forth with Karen and Andrew.

All I can say is that it's a good thing Kristy has all that energy. She needs it.

Not that the rest of us are slouches. Take Claudia. She's the BSC's vice-president, mainly because we meet in her room. (We meet there because she's the only member with a private phone- well Kristy has one, but she and Abby live too far away from the rest of us for all of us to get to her house on time). Claudia is hardly a couch potato. She's a wildly creative person who lives for art. And to Claudia, everything is art- from paintings in museums to the way a person does her hair.

Claudia is Japanese-American, with long, glossy black hair. She lives with her parents (Mr. Kishi is an investment banker, Mrs. Kishi is a librarian) and her older sister, Janine, who is truly brilliant, at least in an academic way. Janine has no artistic talent whatsoever. (Claudia, on the other hand, does not do all that well in school. She's smart, but she isn't fulfilled by learning algebra equations and spelling rules.)

As vice president, Claudia has no real duties other than taking phone calls during nonmeeting times. But she has designated herself our official Provider of Munchies and makes sure to have plenty of yummy snacks on hand for every meeting. It's a job she enjoys because she is a junk food junkie. She hides the stuff in her room, along with her Nancy Drew mysteries, since her parents don't approve of them either.

Claudia always makes sure to have some sugar-free snacks on hand for her best friend, Stacey McGill. Stacey is diabetic and has to be extremely careful of what she eats. In case you don't know, diabetes is a disease that prevents the body from properly processing sugars. In order to stay healthy Stacey has to give herself daily injections of insulin, a hormone her body doesn't produce. Diabetes is a life-long problem, but Stacey has learned to live with it. Looking at her, you'd never know what she's had to go through. She seems extremely healthy, with her bouncy blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

Stacey has a gift for organization. As the BSC's treasurer, she keeps track of all the money we earn. She also keeps track of all the money we earn. She also collects dues each week, which we use to help pay Claudia's phone bill, for buying markers for our Kid Kits, and so forth. She always knows how much we've saved- to the penny.

Stacey grew up in New York City. Her dad still lives there, but since her parents divorced, Stacy and her mom have lived in Stoneybrook. Stacey visits her dad as often as possible. She still loves the city, partly because of all the shopping opportunities there. Stacy is into fashion. She has an extremely sophisticated style. You'd never mistake her for someone who grew up in a small town.

Then there's Dawn. Like you probably already know, she's my stepsister, she has _long_, straight, paleblond hair that's almost white, and has piercing blue eyes. But I bet you didn't know she had her ears pierced _twice in each ear. _She also has her own style we call "California casual", and she likes to look trendy but be comfortable. She's sensitive, but she's not afraid to say what she thinks. She's a confident individual and she rarely gets angry (she might pout or feel cross, but she often ever scolds), and she is very neat. She doesn't eat red meat. She's not afraid to take a stand, either. She also believes in psychic experiences and ESP, which would probably explain why she's so convinced our house is haunted.

Dawn had been away in California living with her dad, her brother Jeff, and her stepmother Carol, but she got too homesick and decided to come back to Stoneybrook to live with us again, which I'm so glad that she did!

We also have another ex-New Yorker (like Stacey) in the club:

Abby Stevenson. Abby and her twin sister, Anna, grew up on Long Island and only moved to Stoneybrook recently. Their mom works in publishing and commutes into Manhattan the train. Mr. Stevenson died in a car accident a few years ago, when Abby and Anna were nine.

Maybe you would expect Abby to be a sad person because of that. And underneath, I think she is very sad. But the face Abby shows to the world is anything but. She has an outrageous sense of humor and loves to keep people laughing. Abby has nearly as much energy as Kristy. She channels most of her intensity into sports. Abby is a super athlete. I wouldn't be surprised to see her in the Olympics someday, playing soccer or running the one-hundred-yard dash. The amazing thing is that she does it all even though she's constantly battling allergies and asthma, two problems that can make it hard for her to breathe.

When Abby and Anna first moved here, we invited both of them to join the club. Anna declined, saying she was too busy with her music (she's an outstanding violin player). I guess it would be impossible to join the club now because she goes to SMA (Stamford Music Academy) now, and is only in Stoneybrook on vacation. Abby's way busy too, but somehow she manages to fit in a few sitting jobs here and there.

Their interests may be different, but the sisters do look alike. Both have dark curly hair (though Anna's is short and Abby's is long), and both wear contacts or glasses (although Abby told us Anna is considering laser eye surgery). Still, we have almost never mixed them up, because once you know them, it's hard to mistake one for the other, especially as they've gotten older.

Abby and Anna are both still fifteen (Anna's eight minutes older than Abby, though). But there are two members of the BSC who are younger, Jessica Ramsey and Mallory Pike (whom we call junior officers). Both of them are thirteen and in the eighth grade, and they are both just as responsible as the rest of when we were their age.

Jessi Ramsey is one of the most graceful thirteen-year-olds that I know. She's strong and athletic too. That's because she's been studying ballet since she was little. She's such a good dancer that she was invited to New York two years ago to take part in a workshop with a real ballet company. Jessi brings her sense of grace and strength to everything she does, including baby-sitting. Jessi has a two-year-old brother named Squirt (well, his name is John Philip Ramsey, Jr.), and a ten- year-old sister named Becca (which is short for Rebecca). Both of her parents work, and she helps her aunt Cecelia take care of Becca and Squirt.

Mallory Pike, Jessi's best friend, comes from a much larger family. She has seven brothers and sisters! Mal has reddish-brown hair and freckles, and now she wears contacts (and she doesn't have braces anymore, either). She wants to be an author/illustrator someday, and she writes all the time. She is the only BSC member who truly enjoys writing in the notebook. Mallory had been away at a boarding school called Riverbend for the last part of her sixth grade (and her whole seventh grade) year, but she decided to come back to SMS (Stoneybrook Middle School) because she got too homesick, which we're all so glad she did!

Besides our eight (me included) regular club members, we have two other members who don't come to meetings. There's Shannon Kilbourne (Kristy's next door neighbor) , and… Logan Bruno, my boyfriend!

Shannon is sixteen like the rest of us, but she doesn't go to the same school as the rest of us. She and her younger sisters go to Stoneybrook Day School, a private school for grades kindergarten through twelfth grade. She isn't very tall, she has thick, curly, blonde hair, blue eyes, and high cheekbones. She takes tap-dancing lessons, is fluent in both Spanish and French, and is funny as well as studious. She also loves animals, and she gave Kristy's family their dog Shannon (guess who it's named after?) after their collie Louie died. Shannon and Kristy used to not get along, but their friends now. Shannon doesn't come to meetings because of her many conflicts (but she did come to meetings for a while when Dawn was in California). She doesn't come to meetings anymore because she is a whole lot busier this year than last year.

And _finally_, last but not least, there's… Logan Bruno, my boyfriend! I don't really know where to start because there are _so _many things I could say about him, because I like him so much. (Well, here goes…) He is funny and understanding. He also looks exactly like my favorite movie star, Cam Geary! He is from Louisville, Kentucky and he has this adorable southern drawl. We've been going out together for about a year and we've had our disagreements a few times. (We were broken up for quite awhile last year, actually). He's an associate member of the BSC. He also has this cousin from Louisville named Lewis, who Dawn had a short relationship with!

And that's the Baby Sitters Club for you. All ten of us. We may be different, but that's what keeps us close. We're friends. Best friends. And nothing will ever change that.

Oh no! The meeting! I only had fifteen minutes to get there! Dawn had already left. (Kristy is a stickler for punctuality. She _hates _it when anybody is late.)

I rode my bike to Claudia's house as fast as I could get there. I got to Claudia's house and ran up the stairs crashing into Janine and knocking her physiology textbook out of her hands.

"Oh no! Sorry Janine," I said, bending down to help her pick up her textbooks.

"That is perfectly fine," she said, sounding like a dictionary, "don't worry about those. I'll get them. Everyone else is waiting in Claudia's room."

"Thanks, Janine," I said.

"One more thing," she said, "she said.

"Yes?" I replied.

"Happy birthday."

"Thanks."

_ "_This meeting of the Baby Sitters Club is now called to order," said Kristy, "is there any new business?"

"I say we should celebrate Mary Anne's birthday, " said Claudia with a mouthful of sour gummy worms.

"I second the motion," everyone said at once, even Kristy.

So Claudia got out the junk food and then she and Stacey went downstairs to get brownies, popcorn, cookies, and diet soda.

Then we had a party.

"Now what should we do?" Jessi asked.

"I say we should go to Mary Anne and Dawn's house to help Mary Anne get ready for her date," said Dawn.

Well, of course everyone seconded that motion, even Kristy.

So we took the remaining meeting time to help me get ready for my date.

Getting ready for my date took _forever._

First, I had to take a shower.

Than my friends, (well mostly Stacey, Claudia, and Dawn) did my hair (they gave me a _perm)_, make-up (it felt like an _extremely long_ makeover complete with Mani Pedi and a facial), then they helped me put my panty hose on, then my jewelry (the set Dawn gave me), my new evening gown (sparkly dark blue), matching colored crystal pumps, and even a tiara that matched my jewelry

After my friends left (to go get ready for my surprise party, which I didn't know about at first) I stood by the front door waiting for Logan.

_ Ding dong!_

"I'll get it!" I exclaimed, quickly checking myself in the mirror. I ran to get the front door as fast as I could (I couldn't run very fast in the shoes I was wearing).

"Hi, Logan," I said when I answered the door.

"Hi Mary Anne," he said, "You look beautiful!"

"Thanks," I said, "You look good too." He was wearing a tux and was holding a red rose which he gave to me and he had a Tiffany's bag in his other hand.

Thank ya. Ya ready to go?" he asked, holding out an arm, which I grabbed gently.

"Yes!" I replied.

**Okay, guys! I decided to stop the second chapter there because it seemed like a good stopping point to me. What do you think? Please comment, rate and review!**


	3. Looks Like There's Trouble Ahead

**Bonjour, everyone! Here's Chapter 3!**

Logan and I were sitting in the far back of a dark movie theater after having a nice, romantic, dinner at Chez Maurice, watching _Swimfan_ _. _It wasn't really my type, but it was a good movie. We each had a small diet soda and were sharing a small tub of popcorn (Logan usually goes for the large, but we had just had dinner and he didn't want to spoil either of our appetites, because if he had Kristy would have probably killed him.) Meanwhile, Kristy (who _I _thought was sitting for David Michael, Karen, Andrew, and Emily Michelle), was at Stacey's house with Claudia, Stacey, Dawn (who had _also_ claimed to have a sitting job that night. Weird.), Jessi, Mallory, Abby, and Shannon getting ready for my surprise party later that night.

" Hey, Claudia how are the decorations coming along?" Kristy asked.

"Good. How about you?" Claudia replied.

"Good. Finish up and go help Dawn and Mallory get the food ready. Then I need you to tell Dawn to go home and wait for Mary Anne to come home; tell her about our 'club party'."

"Okay." Claudia said. She walked into the kitchen and helped make the rest of the food. After that, she felt as if one important thing was missing.

"Um, Kristy?" Claudia asked with a worried look on her face.

"Yes, Claudia?" Kristy replied.

"Did you get the cake?" Claudia asked, carefully watching Kristy's face expression. But she stayed calm; he face didn't change from normal to red to purple like it usually did when Kristy got all worked up about something.

"Yes I did. I picked it up on the way with Abby. I put it in Stacey's refrigerator. Isn't that right, Abby?" Kristy said, obviously counting on Abby to back her story up.

"Yes I was there,' Abby replied, "I saw her put it in the refrigerator."

"_Th-an-k you_!" exclaimed Kristy, who turned back to Claudia with a look on her face that said, _I told you so_. "Now go tell Dawn what I told you to tell her. Then put the food that needs to be refrigerated away and come back and help us finish getting ready."

"You got it, _chief_," Claudia said, making Abby crack up, who laughs until Kristy gives her a Look. Then they all get back to work.

_Meanwhile…_

"Did you like the movie, Mary Anne?" Logan asked me as we were walking towards his car in the parking lot.

"Yes, it was good," I said, sighing.

"Is something wrong, Mary Anne?" he said, sounding concerned.

"No, it's just that I feel like my other friends have been avoiding me all day," I sighed. _I probably sound pathetic_, I thought to myself.

But Logan surprised me.

"They're not avoiding you, birthdays are just a lot of stress on people. It's a good thing they only come once a year, eh?," **(* I just had to insert a Canadian reference in here sometime; even though he's from Louisville. LOL! Peace out!) **he said, winking at me.

"Are you saying I'm a nuisance?" I exclaimed, tears threatening in the corners of my eyes.

"No- that's not what I meant a-" his words were cut off by the sound of me slamming the door, running off into the coolness of the September night.

Logan watched me run off. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He called Kristy, who picked it up on the first ring.

"Kristy? It's Logan. I think we have a problem."

**So, what do you think? Do you like it? I decided to stop the chapter here, because it's sort of a cliffhanger now, don't you think so? Please read, comment, rate, and review! I'll start another chapter soon, but I think I should work on another chapter for my PLL Fanfic, so I'm going to go back and forth on stories for a while. So thank-you all who read and review! I promise I'll write more soon! Mwah! **_**Au revoir**_**!**


	4. A Surprising Yet Suspicious Phone Call

**Okay guys! I stayed home from school today because I don't feel good, so I decided to do Chapter 4! So, we last left off with Mary Anne and Logan on their way home from the movies, having a fight, and then Mary Anne running off. So here's what happens next. Disclaimer: I do not own The Baby-Sitters Club or EZ Buns.**

"This emergency meeting of the Baby Sitter's Club is now called to order," Kristy said, causing everyone to sit up and pay attention.

After Logan had called Kristy, who had been with the rest of the club (yes, even Shannon) at Stacey's house getting ready for _my_ surprise party; and told her what had happened, she made everyone stop what they were doing, go to Stacey's living room and talk about the situation.

"Our order of business is to find Mary Anne, and get her back to the party in time. Logan, when you saw Mary Anne run off, in which direction was she running in?" Kristy asked.

"She was running in the direction of the park." he said.

"Okay, Logan, Dawn, and I will go find Mary Anne. Stacey; Abby, Claudia, Mallory, Jessi and Shannon will help you finish getting ready for the party."

Logan, Dawn and Kristy ran out the front door after grabbing their coats. (My coat was still in Logan's car.) Kristy than ran back inside and asked Stacey to get her three flashlights. Stacey went into the kitchen and came back with the flashlights, then handed them to Kristy, who grabbed them and ran out the door. After watching Logan drive off, Stacey and the others went back down to the basement to finish getting ready for the party.

Meanwhile, Logan and the others got to the park. He parked the car and they all got out into the pouring rain. Then they started walking all around the park calling my name. (I probably didn't hear them because I was crying so loud which was just getting drowned out by the rain, anyway.) I was soaked and cold and upset and all I wanted to do was go home. I was thinking about how my clothes were probably ruined now when suddenly I felt two arms wrapping around me. I heard a voice I knew very well say, "Mary Anne!"

"Dawn!" I said in a loud, shaky voice. She let go of me and I stood up, walked around the bench and we hugged and cried tears of both joy and relief. Kristy then came running over with my ankle length raincoat and handed it to me. I put it on. Then we linked arms and they led me to Logan's car. We got in and they drop me and Dawn off at our house. After I get inside I put my clothes in the dryer and take a shower. Then Dawn does the same. While I was waiting for my clothes to dry (believe me, that evening gown can take _forever _to dry), the phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hello is this Mary Anne?" said a voice I'd know anywhere.

"Hi Grandma!" I said, "How are you?"

"Great, I'm doing fine. I called to wish you a happy birthday and to ask if you got my present yet."

"I got the card. It was very thoughtful. Thank you, by the way. Was there something else?"

"Didn't you see what was inside the card?"

"Inside the card?" I asked.

"Go look inside the card, dear." She said.

I ran into my room and opened up the card. A small white envelope fell out and on to the floor. I picked it up and opened it. It was enough tickets for me and our friends to go to a festival (with music, sports, movies, etc.) in NYC next week over fall break. It also included enough first class train tickets, well; actually, it was the_ whole_ sleeping car! And it also included a paper that said we had hotel rooms booked at the Plaza!

"Thank you _so _much, Grandma! This is such a great present! That was_ so_ nice of you! I can't wait to tell the girls! It'll be so awesome!"

"There is one more thing…" she began.

"What?" I asked.

"Cam Geary is going to be there…"

I couldn't help screaming.

"… and I know the guy who works there at the festival who pulled some strings and got some _free_ backstage passes for all of you girls!"

"Seriously?"

"Yes. I have them. I'm flying into New York the same day you do, and I'm staying at the Plaza also. I'll meet you girls at the airport. Pack this weekend and your train leaves Monday. I'll see you then. I love you. Bye."

"Bye, I love you too." I said. Then I hung up.

The phone rang again, just as Dawn came in the living room with her robe on (her clothes for the party were on underneath.) She ran up and grabbed the phone. It was Stacey.

"Hey Stacey. Really? That's so great. Okay, see you soon. Bye." She said, before hanging up the phone. Then she turned to me.

"Mary Anne, Stacey wants us to come over tonight for a BSC party/ sleepover. Put your outfit you wore earlier back on and pack your things. I'll get ready and get my things. Oh, and let down your hair before we ring Stacey's doorbell," she said, pointing to my EZ bun I had put my hair in.

We got ready, packed our stuff, and drove to Stacey's house. I had taken the driving test (and passed!) after school when we got out early. I couldn't wait to tell them about next weekend!

**I decided to stop here because it seemed like the perfect place to stop. I'll start Chapter 5 A.S.A.P! Bye-bye for now!**


	5. SURPRISE!

**Hey guys. ****xxxDegrassigirl101xxx**** here! This is probably the next-to-last chapter, so there's not much left to go! Okay, so here it is!**

We pulled up to Stacey's house when I noticed something very strange. No cars were there and all the lights were out. Dawn must have not noticed because she just got out and ran for the front door.

"Dawn! You forgot your bag! Come back!" I yelled after her. But I guess she couldn't have heard me because she got to the front door, opened it and went inside. So, I sighed, got her bag, and dragged all the stuff to the front door. I opened the door and looked inside. Everything was dark. So I cautiously walked in so I wouldn't trip and ruin my new part outfit.

"Stacey? Dawn? Hello? Is anybody home? Why is it so-"

(Suddenly the lights came on.)

"-dark in here?" I finished.

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARY ANNE!" everyone said. There were a _ton_ of people there- friends, family, cousins, all of our clients and their parents- everyone who mattered.

"Oh. My. Gosh! I can't believe it! You guys did this for me?" I said happily, trying not to cry.

"You're our best friend. Sixteen is a _big_ deal! Of course we did for you! We're doing the same thing for you that you did for us. Remember _our _birthdays?" Stacey said.

"This is the same thing-" began Mallory.

"That you guys did for _all _of us on _our _birthdays," Jessi finished.

"We wanted to return the favor." Kristy said.

"Mary Anne, you're so kind to everyone and you would do _anything _for anybody without wanting them to return the favor," Miranda Shillaber said, "This is our thanks."

"Thanks Mary Anne! Happy Birthday!" everyone told me.

Then Kristy (of course) stood up and started to speak. Everyone got quiet and listened.

"Before the party _really _starts, I have _another _surprise for Mary Anne."

As she was speaking, a large, white screen came down from behind her.

"Mary Anne, we tried to get your grandma to come, but she couldn't come down here, yet she still wanted to be at the party. So she'll be on video chat during the whole party!"

Suddenly, I could see my grandmother on the screen.

"Hello, everyone," she said.

"HI" we said.

"Happy Birthday, Mary Anne!" she said.

"Thank-you, grandma," I said, "I'm so glad you could 'be here' today!"

"I'm glad to be here too!" She said, "But don't thank me. Your friend Kristy is the one who set this entire thing up."

I turned to Kristy.

"You did all this for me?" I asked her, tears starting to form in my eyes.

"Don't you remember when you planned 'Kristy Day' in that summer before seventh grade?" she asked me.

"I could _never _forget that!" I exclaimed.

"_I _could _never _forget that either. So think of this as me returning the favor." She told me.

"Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you Kristy!" I said hugging her, "You've always been my best friend and always will be!"

The rest of the club came up to us and we had a group hug.

"Now what do we do, Mary Anne?" Stacey asked me.

"Let's _dance_!" I said, making everyone burst into cheers.

Stacey turned on the stereo and we all started dancing.

Then we ate snacks and played these _awesome _games.

All of a sudden the lights went dim and this **HUGE **cake was brought in and everyone, even Grandma sang _Happy Birthday _and we all had cake.

We danced some more and then I opened presents. I got everything I wanted and a lot of other awesome stuff, too.

*****I would have put what she got, but it would have taken, like, **_**forever.**_ **So, I won't. Sorry! *****

It was the best birthday I'd ever had. I wished that it would never end. But, all good (or awesome) things must come to an end, sadly. But it was great. The best. I had a lot of fun.

Logan had come up to me during a slow song and had asked me to dance. I had said yes.

"Does this mean I'm forgiven?" he had asked me.

"_Forgiven_?" I asked, puzzled.

"About earlier?" he reminded me, "When you ran off?"

"Oh-_that_!" I said, "Yes, you're forgiven."

He kissed me and said, "I love you, Mary Anne."

"I love you, too, Logan." I said kissing him back.

We started to dance.

"Wait," I said, "Do this mean I'm forgiven, too?"

"Forgiven for what?" he said, puzzled.

"For going psycho and running off to the park earlier tonight?" I reminded him.

"Oh. _For that._" He said. "Yes, you're forgiven for that."

"I love you Mary Anne."

"I love you too, Logan."

Then we continued dancing the night away.

**There. That's Chapter 5! Hoped you liked it! One more to go! Bye-bye for now!**


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